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Go North East
Go North East is the largest operator of bus services in North East England, United Kingdom. Go North East operates services in the counties of Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland. The company operates through two divisions; 'North Division' (Go North East Ltd.) and 'South Division' (Go Northern Ltd.) and was previously known as The Northern General Transport Company and Go-Ahead Northern, the company which grew into the modern Go-Ahead Group. The company operates a modern fleet of around 700 buses, most of which are have low floors for disabled access.Easy Access Information The first serious trial of low floor buses in the UK outside of London was operated from the Percy Main Depot in North Tyneside. Go North East's headquarters and central engineering department are based at separate locations in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.Go North East Depot Locations Operations North Division /Wright Solar in the Fab Fifty Six livery]] The North Division (Go North East Ltd.) operate services from five depots in three counties. The division operates many trunk services as well as local services around Gateshead, North Tyneside, West Durham and Southern Northumberland. Depots are located at: *Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear - 'Sunderland Road' *Saltmeadows Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear - 'Saltmeadows' *Rothbury Terrace, Percy Main, Tyne and Wear - 'Percy Main' *Cromwell Place, Winlaton, Tyne and Wear - 'Winlaton' *Tyne Green Lane, Hexham, Northumberland - 'Hexham' formerly Arriva. South Division /Wright Cadet in the old livery still used on some buses]] The South Division (Go Northern Ltd.) operates services from four depots in two counties. The division operates many trunk services as well as local services around Sunderland, County Durham and South Tyneside as well as providing National Express services. Depots are located at: *Picktree Lane, Chester-le-Street, County Durham - 'Chester-le-Street' *Deptford Terrace, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear - 'Deptford' *Industrial Road, Hertburn Industrial Estate, Washington, Tyne and Wear - 'Washington' *High Street, Stanley, County Durham - 'Stanley' *Cook Way, North West Industrial Estate, Peterlee, County Durham - 'Peterlee' Former depots in Silver Arrows livery]] *Strothers Road, High Spen, Tyne and Wear - 'High Spen' *Jarrow Bus Station, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear - 'Jarrow' (Merged with South Shields) *Park Lane, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear - 'Park Lane' (Merged with Philadelphia and moved to Deptford) *Philadelphia, Tyne and Wear - 'Philadelphia' (Merged with Park Lane and moved to Deptford) *Lady's Walk, South Shields, Tyne and Wear - 'South Shields' (Merged with Deptford) *Bondgate, Bishop Auckland, County Durham - 'Bishop Auckland' (Sold to Arriva, flagsip services transferred to Chester-le-Street) *Unit 7 Jubilee Industrial Estate, Ashington, Northumberland (Sold to Arriva in exchange for Hexham Depot) *Consett, Consett, County Durham (Merged with Stanley depot) Night Buses Go North East operate a number of night bus services (with an 'N' prefix) throughout the region. Night Buses are often based on the daytime equivalent of a particular service but sometimes slightly revised to serve as many areas as possible. Night Buses have their own dedicated tickets, and no other tickets or passes are valid for travel on these services.Go North East Night Buses Below is a list of all night services and the areas they serve: Route branding Since 2006, Go North East have been 'branding' services. This involves giving each service or group of services its own management, staff, vehicles and identity. Most branded services have bold eye-catching liveries, their own logo and many are quite unique and special to the areas they serve. For example, brands such as Coaster celebrate the award winning coastline North Tyneside has to offer, while brands such as Red Kite celebrate the diverse wildlife their respective routes serve. The Cobalt Clipper, Doxford Clipper and the Team Valley Clipper brands are for services which provide frequent links to major areas of employment using distinctive and easily recognisable designs to welcome passengers aboard. All buses still carry Go North East fleet names in addition to these new 'brandings' as well as either Go North East or Go Northern legal lettering. Current network The list below shows the brands currently usedGo North East Branded Routes Full fleet information can be found on Go North East's own website http://www.simplygo.com/enthusiast-area/. Go North East also uses the brand Yellow Bus for its Special Services Vehicles and the Brand Northern as its Standard Fleet Livery. Network restructuring During restructuring of the service network Go North East has withdrawn a number of their branded services, these are listed below. *; Teams Valley Clipper: From 30 January this brand was dropped due to changes the 91/91A *;Kingfisher: From 30 October changes will be made to these services, the brand will also change to "Pulse" where they will use Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown (Dual Door) instead the MPD. *; Show Stopper: From 31 July - Service 9 will operate back to North Shields. The service will use temporary branded Scania vehicles and will move to Percy Main depot. The 26 and 99 will now use the 'Show Stopper' brand, these will now use East Lancs Vykin's along with the tridents, it will sport a new "Showstopper" Brand. *: The Lambton Worm:Service 71. Operated from Chester-le-Street, initially with Marshall Darts, the service was branded and then operated with Plaxton SPD's. Following cuts to Durham County Council transport budgets, the late evening and Sunday services were axed. Branded buses had already been sold off by Go North East prior to these cuts. The brand was quietly dropped in May 2011, although daytime services have been operated by a mixture of older buses from the depot such as: Caetano Compass, yellow SB220's and also Double Deck Yellow Buses. This service is ran by Deptford depot now, it will use Dart/Caetanos. *; Twenty One, 24 hour service:Service 21, operated from Chester-le-Street with Scania L94UB/Wright Solar, Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini, Dennis Trident 2/East Lancs Lolyne, Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President all in the new Go North East standard livery, with 'Twenty One, 24 hour service' logo applied. The service ran from 1 October 2006 until 28 July 2007 when the service was replaced by 'The Angel'. *; Stanley Shuttle:Services 40, 43, 43A, 43B and 44 were temporarily branded, with vehicles, operated from Stanley, wearing standard fleet liveries with Stanley Shuttle logos applied. Services uses a variety of Dennis Dart SLF's. The brand operated from August 2006 until 25 February 2007 when it was replaced by 'The Diamond'. *; Thirty:Service 30, operated by Deptford with MPDs in standard livery with logos applied between 11 December 2006 and 4 June 2007 when it was replaced by a reworked 210 formally operated by Jayline. *; The Centurion:Services 305, 315/316 and 325/326 operated from Percy Main using Dennis Dart MPD, Dennis Dart SPD and Dennis Lance SLF/Wright Pathfinder 320 in standard livery with logos applied. Services operated like this until 29 March 2008 when service 305 was replaced by 'Wallsend Links' and 'Citylink', services 315/316 were renumbered 75/76 and gained a new red based livery and refreshed 'The Centurion' brand. Services 325/326 were renumbered 85/86 and, although part of the new 'The Centurion' brand still use Dennis Lance SLFs in old livery, which have been used on these services since 1994 (Now withdrawn due to old age. 'The Centurion' now uses red Mercedez Benz Citaros due for delivery soon to percy main for services 75,76 which will replace the DAF SB120/Wright Cadet which have been painted maroon and branded 'The Crusader' 27 service while the Caetano Compass will be in red blue and yellow with centurion logos on them for services 85,86. The Brand is Withdrawn and Replaced by Cobalt Clipper Service 310 and North Tyne Links 85,86 *; Pink Panthers:First used on a fleet of Optare Solos from Chester-le-Street to operate new service D4 in Durham starting 2 October 2006. The service was unsuccessful and withdrawn on 31 December 2006. The small fleet of pink Solos were sent to Percy Main, a big user of the type at the time, and were pressed into service on services 321 and 322 from 13 January 2007. This arrangement lasted until 26 March 2007 when the North Tyneside service network was rearranged with services 307 and 319 gaining the Pink Panther brand. On 30 March 2008 More changes were made to North Tyneside's services and the brand was transferred to new service 81. The service now uses branded MPDs. The Service was later renumbered 17 and will be extended to Whitley Bay. *; Prince Bishops Swift:Service X20, operating from Deptford. The service used 'Dual Purpose' versions on the vehicles used in the 'Prince Bishops' service and livery was broadly similar. On 25 May 2008 the service was reworked as the peak time only 20X as part of the main Prince Bishops brand. Vehicles were adjusted to suit this and used on an increased service 20. *; Park and Ride:As part of an experiment using the Metro Centre Coach Park, CentreLink Road and two pale blue Optare Solos to ease congestion on the Tyne crossings. The service was operated from Winlaton and ceased on 14 September 2008, with alternative facilities offered on 'Ten'. *; The Drifter:Services 60, 61 and 62 operating from Deptford with Dennis Dart SLF/Marshall Capitals. On 22 February 2009 service 61 began operating with modified branding on VDL SB120/Wright Cadets. On the same day service 62 was renumbered 162 and gained new 'East Durham' branding on MPDs. From 27 July 2009 service 60 gained a refreshed brand on Optare Versas. Service 60 uses a newer brand on the same base colour as service 61. *; East Durham:Services around Peterlee formally operated by Jayline. Operated for a time under the 'Go North East Jayline' name before being branded 'East Durham'. Services 162, 201, 203, 202, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 232, 233, 238, 246, 250, 251 and 908 were all part of the brand until 31 May 2009. *; Saltwell Park:Services 53 and 54 operated by Super Pointer Darts in new corporate livery with 'Saltwell Park' logos. From 13 July 2009 the service gained a refreshed brand on Optare Versas. Service remained unchanged. *; Bargain Express: Service X41 operated by a coach Volvo B10M/Plaxton Paragon is being withdrawn due to low passenger numbers and the funding from the government. *; Magic Roundabout: Service 33 was replaced by improved service 35 between Silksworth, Barnes Park and Sunderland City Centre. Service 42 is now a free standing route operating a new circular route around the City Centre and using bigger buses. *; Cross Tyne: Route from Sunderland to North Tyneside on services 9/9A split into services 9 from Sunderland to Jarrow and services 59/59A from Jarrow cross Tyne to Wallsend and North Shields. Services 59/59A then replaced by new Veolia service 319 operating between Jarrow and Percy Main Metro only.now the 319 has been withdrawn and replaced by the 9 *; Bargain Bus: 114, 308, X42, X43, X44, X45 - Service passed to Arriva when Go North East sold their Ashington depot to Arriva in exchange for the Hexham depot. *; South Tyne: Services 57A and 57B were replaced by new service 5, improved service 88 Between South Shields and South Leam. re-routed Black Cats 26 between Boldon Asda and Heworth Metro, and improved Stagecoach in South Shields service X20.Now the 88 runs to lukes lane with new service 88A *; The Crusader: Service 27A was withdrawn and replaced with an improved service 27 along a revised route via Hebburn Shops and Hedgeley Road. *; Red Arrows: Service X2 was replaced by improved Lime 8 between Sunderland and Washington and improved Red Arrow X1 between Washington and Newcastle due to the low passenger numbers travelling across Washington on service X2. Service X3 was replaced by improved MetroLink M1 between Houghton-le-Spring and Washington and Red Arrow X1 between Washington and Newcastle. Biddick Woods, previously served by Red Arrow X3, is now served by the Connect service 37. *; Doxford Clipper: Doxford Clipper 29/29A/39A were withdrawn from 25 October 2009 to leave a single Doxford Clipper 39 running every 20 minutes between Doxford International and Pennywell. The route around the North Sunderland Estates was replaced by new Black Cats 36A/36C. *; Black Cats: Black Cats 36 was withdrawn from 25 October 2010 as a part of the Sunderland network restructuring. In addition, Black Cats 26 was curtailed to operate between Heworth and Sunderland only. The route between Sunderland and Pennywell was replaced by a revised Doxford Clipper 39 and the route between Sunderland and Witherwack was replaced by new Black Cats 36A/36C. This Brand was Dropped on 31 July due to changes to the 26,36A/36C. 26 now uses Showstopper brand and 36A/36C was replaced by new service 99, under the same brand as 26. *; Wallsend Links: Wallsend Links will be rebranded as North Tyne Links Ticketing /Northern Counties Palatine 2]] Single fares can be purchased from the bus driver on all services, with the price usually incrementing with increasing distance travelled. In localised areas, a single flat fare may be offered; or alternatively, a two-tier fare system with one flat fare for short journeys and another flat fare for longer journeys. Such tickets are designed to reduce passenger confusion and speed up boarding times. Return tickets offer a considerable discount from the price of two single tickets, and such tickets are marketed by Go North East as "Cheap Day Returns".Single and Cheap Day Returns If a passenger will make multiple journeys on the same day, it is often cheaper to purchase a Day Ticket. Some branded services listed above have their own range of day and weekly tickets for exclusive use on that particular brand. Young people between the ages of 18 and 22 in full time education can apply for a GetAround ID card to purchase tickets which allow unlimited travel at a fraction of the normal price.GetAround Buzzfare Go North East have divided their operating network into seven colour coded zones, and this is known as Buzzfare. The zones are: *; Orange Zone: - covering Blyth, Ashington, Bedlington, Matfen, Corbridge, Hexham and Allendale Town. *; Blue Zone: - covering Cramlington, Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, North Shields, Wallsend, Cobalt Business Park, Killingworth, Newcastle Airport and Newcastle City Centre. *; Purple Zone: - covering Newcastle City Centre, Gateshead, MetroCentre, Crawcrook, Team Valley, High Spen, Washington and Heworth. *; Red Zone: - covering South Shields, Jarrow, Hebburn, Boldon, Hylton Castle, Sunderland, Doxford International, Houghton-le-Spring, Seaham, Dalton Park, Murton and Hetton-le-Hole. *; Green Zone: - covering Chester-le-Street, Stanley, Beamish, Sacriston, Durham, Belmont and Great Lumley. *; Cherry Zone: - covering Consett, Leadgate, Castleside, Chopwell, Prudhoe, Stocksfield and Wylam. *; Turquoise Zone: - covering Peterlee, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Norton, Darlington, Spennymoor and Bishop Auckland. Buzzfare tickets can be bought daily, weekly, monthly and annually and can be purchased online, by telephone. Customers can choose to buy tickets for one zone, for two zones, or a three zone+ ticket allowing unlimited travel across the entire Go North East network. The Key In June 2010, Go North East pioneered the use of Smartcard ticketing for its bus services called the key. A trial was carried out on Prince Bishops service 20 between Sunderland and Durham to test the equipment. The key smartcard was launched across all of Go North East in May 2011 with ticket available to buy online, on the bus, over the telephone and from Go North East's own travel centres. Fleet /Wright Eclipse Gemini formerly used on 'angel' services]] Current vehicle types *Double deck **Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine II **Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini **Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini **Volvo B7TL/East Lancs Vyking **Volvo B7TL/Plaxton President **Dennis Trident 2/East Lancs Lolyne **Dennis Trident 2/Plaxton President *Articulated **Scania L94UA/Wright Solar Fusion **Mercedes-Benz Citaro Ex-London *Single deck **Mercedes-Benz Citaro **Scania OmniCity **Scania L94UB/Wright Solar Eclipse **Dennis Dart "Super Pointer Dart" Plaxton Pointer/Caetano Compass/Nimbus/Transbus **Dennis Dart "Mini Pointer Dart" **Dennis Dart Standard 10.2m **Volvo B10BLE/Wright Renown **DAF SB220GS/Plaxton Prestige *Midibus **Optare Versa **VDL SB120/Wright Cadet **Dennis Dart MPD Plaxton Pointer/Transbus/Alexander Dennis **Optare Solo SR **Plaxton Concept 2000 Former vehicle types *Double deck **Leyland Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine **Leyland Olympian/Alexander RH **MCW Metrobus **Bristol VRT ECW highbridge/Williowbrook **Routemaster Leyland Engined/Front Entrance **Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties Palatine I (Due to get withdrawn soon once all Volvo Plaxton Presidents have been refurbished from being in London Central livery to Go North East Standard Livery and converted to single door and repainted red and branded "Northern") **Volvo Olympian/East Lancs Pyoneer *Single deck **Dennis Lance/Optare Sigma **Dennis Lance SLF/Wright Pathfinder **DAF SB220/Optare Delta **Leyland Lynx **Leyland National **Optare Excel *Midibus **Dennis Dart/Marshall C37 **Dennis Dart/Wright Handybus **Dennis Dart/Carlyle Dartline *Minibus **Optare Metrorider **Mercedes 608| Alexander **Ford Transit Mk2| Alexander **Optare Solo Go North East acquisitions /Wright Renown]] *The Venture Transport Company *Stanley Taxis (Local bus services only) *The Langley Park Motor Company *Tyne & Wear Omnibus Company Limited (Immediately sold to Busways) *Carryden Limited (Local bus services only) *Low Fell Coaches *Atkinsons *Shaws Coaches *Star Travel (Local bus services only) *JH Hammell (Diamond) *OK Motor Services *Derwent Coaches (Local bus services only) *Armstrongs of Ebchester *Northumbria Coaches (Local bus services only) *Redby Bus & Coach Ltd. (Local bus services only) *Calvary Coaches (Local bus services only) See also *List of bus operators of the United Kingdom References External links *Official website *TravelNorthEast.co.uk North East Public Transport Information Category:Go-Ahead Group companies Category:Bus operators in England Category:Transport in Tyne and Wear